The thoughts of Hugo Kükelhaus have been taken up reluctantly by research and only recently has their topicality been realized. This is certainly in part due to the fact that his integral approach is located between natural sciences and humanities. Since negative consequences – especially with regard to perceptual disorders, movement disorders and learning disorders – of a decade-long contempt concerning perception and the body have become increasingly clear, recently various academic disciplines have drawn attention to Hugo Kükelhaus. He is discovered as the pioneer of a holistic approach that takes the sensory and bodily experiences in the educational process seriously.
“In recent years it has become more and more apparent that Kükelhaus’ thoughts concerning education were far ahead of the times, and that he became prominent very early in fields whose importance has been recognized and schematized increasingly by the science of education […]. I am thinking in particular of the rediscovery of body and the senses in their importance for (curative) education [...]
Kükelhaus campaigned for the rehabilitation of the senses in teaching, the holistic education of the human [...], for study based on perception, activity, experience, fun and delight, which includes also the situational and architectural context”
(Walter Dreher, Curative Education, University of Cologne).